If Google Wants To Make Nice With The Record Industry, This Isn't The Way To Start

The recording industry says that Google has ignored a takedown request for a popular Android app that lets people find and download free MP3s.

The app is called MP3 Music Download Pro, which now the number-five app in the Android Market. A person from the RIAA, which represents the recording industry, told Mark Hachman at PC Magazine that they sent a takedown request back in August. Google hasn't responded yet.

That's not a smart move as Google tries to court record labels to offer songs for sale through an upcoming Google Music store. According to a report today by Peter Kafka at AllThingsD, Google has only one of the four majors, EMI, on board, although Universal might be close.

Worse, Google has apparently used the argument that the app COULD be used for non-infringing purposes, like finding classical music that's no longer copyrighted, so it's not inclined to remove it.

This whole flap could be a backhanded negotiating tactic on the part of the RIAA — record labels are reportedly insisting on huge up-front guarantees before they will offer songs for Google Music, and some are concerned that the music locker could be used to store and spread pirated content.

But it also illustrates the big philosophical difference between Google, which views content as just another kind of information to be indexed, and the companies that make and sell that content.